Typical alarm systems for automobiles (including sport utility vehicles, vans, minivans, and light trucks) can have a wide variety of features. They may include, for example, the ability to detect the opening of any of the doors, the hood, or the trunk, or the turning of the ignition key to activate the accessories or ignition. If the alarm system is armed, such an activity may result in one or several of the following: horn sounding, lights flashing, disabling of the ignition, notification to the owner via a wireless device, etc.
Some vans and minivans now include power doors. “Power door” may include a wide variety of automatically openable or otherwise motorized openings, such as power sliding doors, power back doors, sunroofs, moonroofs, convertible tops, or any other such opening. With the touch of an interior button or switch, the driver may automatically open one of these doors. In many such applications, the power door may be actuated even when the keys are not in the ignition. One switch or button may be accessible to the driver, and another may be located on or near the power door itself.
One trade-off that exists is that the button may be depressed, and, the doors opened, by others from the outside of the car, even when the doors are otherwise locked. For example, a person may be able to gain access to the car's interior by depressing the interior power door button from outside through an open or partially opened window, even if the car's owner has armed the alarm so that it will activate (i.e., sound the horn and flash the lights) upon the power door opening.